...And with these four words so begins J.R Wards 7th instalment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I couldn't wait to read LOVER AVENGED and at 642 pages Ward does not disappoint. She has encompassed it all; Surprises galore, evolving storylines, several POV's, plot-twists, humour, action, romance and of course heartbreak.

I won't give away too much here, I'll just give you a brief rundown of all the goodies involved in this intricate story. First off, and this was important to me. All the brothers make an appearance and are all involved to some degree within the story. So yes, we get shots of V, Butch, Zsadist, Rhage, Phury, Tohrment and Wrath, Ah Wrath...

Although pegged as Rehvenge's book, LOVER AVENGED belongs equally to Wrath and his continuing story. And oh how sweet it is to be back with the King. We haven't seen much of him since DARK LOVER (Book 1) but his character takes up a significant number of pages here as Wrath goes rogue from his royal duties and ultimately has to pay the consequences. John Mathew and Xhex also get a fair amount of attention and in secondary roles we have Blay and Quinn, Tez, iAm, and Payne. We are also introduced to George, a new companion to the King. Lassiter is back as the hilarious fallen angel, sidekick of Tohrment and the battle continues with the Lessers. Speaking of the Lessoning Society, Lash is simply awesome as their evolving leader taking things to a whole new level of evil.

I've never really been a fan of Rehvenge (he kind of creeped me out) but I have to say my opinion of him has now changed. His and Ehlena's love story is well done and surprisingly sweet. Ehlena makes a worthy mate but alas their romance never takes center stage (much like Phury/Cormina in (LOVER ENSHRINED.) Ehlena is a nurse from the clinic who treats Rehv after he develops sepsis from repeatedly injecting the dopamine he must take to hide the fact that he's a sympath. It's an unlikely pairing that somehow works even though Rhevenge is still a major drug lord/pimp and has his hands full running the nightclub Zerosum and being a leahdyre on the council. We do get to see a whole new side of him however and gain a much greater insight into the world of sympaths. JR manages to weave all her POV's and storylines together for one nail biting and (literally explosive finale.

My one and only gripe would have to be that JR's brotherhood language has evolved. I don't mean the terms (but yes there are more of these as well) but the actual street lingo that the brothers use when speaking to each other. I occasionally found it hard to understand what they were talking about and had to re-read their dialogue several times before I could figure it out.

I can't imagine how you could ever start the series with this book, so please don't try. The BDB is so involved and complex with so many major characters, interweaving stories and POV's that you would be utterly lost plus you'd miss out on the other 6 great books in this fantastic series, but if you're a fan you won't be disappointed, true. The brotherhood undergoes some changes and there are major developments in all ongoing storylines but the hilarious banter we all love, the intensity and excitement are all still here. LOVER AVENGED made me laugh, made me cry and I didn't want it to end yet JR has done a great job in setting things up for the next book which is to be John Mathew's story ( LOVER MINE.)

Opening Line "The bastard 's taking the bridge! He's mine!"

Opening Line: "The day my life changed started out like any other."

So I have to admit this was surprisingly good. Surprising because I’m not anywhere near the demographic the book is aiming at. For starters I’m far (far) from being a YA (although admittedly I do sometimes still act like it) I’ve never read any of the books from L.J Smith’s original series and I’m only a casual fan of the TV show. (Oh, but those Salvatore boys are yummy to look at) Stefan’s Dairies was a great read though and stands perfectly fine on its own, completely separate from either series, except of course for using the same characters and town setting.

Based on historical flashbacks shown briefly in the TV series, here we get to go back to the “origin” of the Salvatore brothers, set during the civil war before they became vampires. The writing is simple but the story is complete and very good with elements of suspense and romance throughout; Stefan trying to live up to his fathers expectations, young love and the jealousy yet unbreakable bond between two brothers as they vie for the same mysterious woman

I wouldn’t have any trouble recommending this to anyone (of any age) who enjoys historical romances as it can easily be read as a stand alone without ever having seen the TV show or reading the original series. However it is pretty nice to be able to use Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder as visual references :)            

Its 1864 and seventeen year old Stefan Salvatore has just proposed marriage to a girl he doesn’t love. As his overbearing father grooms him to take over the family estate his wayward brother Damon returns from the still raging Civil war and a beautiful girl named Katherine moves into the carriage house. Recently orphaned Katherine is everything his betrothed is not; seductive and mischievous she also harbours a grave secret and has fully captured the attention of both Salvatore brothers. When strange killings begin to occur within the town, Stefan’s father organizes a lynch mob to track down the killers. It seems there be vampires in Mystic Falls. Cheers         

Opening Line: "I'd been waiting for the Vampire for years when he walked into the bar"

**Spoiler Free** and BIG stars